Dana arrived at the workshop an hour later.
She listened to Owen’s account, asked him to identify which items he had personally handled, and photographed the bag before taking anything away.
She did not ask him to guess what Felix intended.
When Owen described a second planned job, Dana asked for the location and date.
Owen said the address was on the same street but belonged to a house with a blue garage door.
Malik knew the house.
It belonged to Ruth.
Dana called Ruth immediately and asked her not to allow unexpected contractors onto her property.
Ruth responded with a calmness that worried Malik more than panic would have.
“Tell them I have a perfectly good telephone,” she said.
“Anyone who needs to work here can use it first.”
After the call, Dana looked at Malik.
“I need you to stay out of Felix’s way,” she said.
“I haven’t gone near him.”
“Keep it that way.”
Malik glanced at Owen.
“What about his job?”
Dana answered carefully.
“That’s not something I can fix.”
Malik nodded.
He knew the difference between offering help and making a promise somebody else would have to keep.
When Dana left, he asked Owen whether he could cut wood accurately enough to build a museum display case.
Owen stared at him.
“Probably.”
“That’s not a reassuring answer.”
“I can show you.”
Malik handed him a pencil and pointed to a piece of scrap plywood.
“Start by marking a square.”
Owen measured twice before drawing the first line.
Malik said nothing until the boy finished.
The square was true.
“All right,” Malik said.
“Now we’ll see whether you can cut one.”
Chapter Thirteen L: The House with the Blue Door
Ruth was carrying a basket of laundry upstairs when the doorbell rang.
She looked through the window and saw a man in a tan jacket holding a tablet.
A white van was parked across the street.
The man smiled as soon as she opened the door on its chain.
“I’m here about the accessibility assessment,” he said.
Ruth looked at him over her glasses.
“Whose accessibility?”
“Yours, ma’am.”
“That’s generous, considering I haven’t asked for one.”
The man glanced at the tablet.
“Our records indicate a concern about the front steps.”
Ruth examined the steps behind him.
They had been repaired three months earlier.
“Which records?” she asked.
“A neighborhood referral.”
“Who made it?”
“I’m not authorized to disclose that.”
Ruth closed the door enough to reach her telephone.
She called Dana while the man waited on the porch.
“A stranger wants to assess my steps,” she said.
“He doesn’t know who asked him to come.”
Dana told her not to admit anyone and said she would send a patrol officer.
The man heard the word officer through the door.
He stepped backward.
“There’s no need to involve the police,” he said.
“Then there is no need for you to wait,” Ruth replied.
He returned to the van without touching the steps.
Ruth watched until it drove away.
She then called Lena.
“Someone has decided I’m the next project,
” she said.
Lena asked whether she was safe.
“I’m annoyed, which is not quite the same thing.”
“Did he give a company name?”
Ruth repeated it.
Lena recognized the company from Harriet Vale’s earlier visit, but the man’s name was unfamiliar.
She called Harriet directly.
Harriet sounded surprised.
“We canceled every Alder Street referral after your complaint,” she said.
“Then someone is using your name.”
Harriet asked for the van’s description and promised to speak with her supervisor.
Lena did not ask Ruth to photograph the man or follow the van.
The priority was keeping Ruth behind a locked door.
